Phallus paintings in Bhutan are esoteric symbols, which have their origins in the Chimi Lhakhang monastery near Punakha, the former capital of Bhutan. The village monastery was built in honour of Lama Drukpa Kunley who lived at the turn of the 16th century and who was popularly known as the "Mad Saint" (nyönpa) or “Divine Madman” for his unorthodox ways of teaching, which amounted to being bizarre and shocking. These explicit paintings have become embarrassing to many of the country's urbanites, and this form of folk culture is informally discouraged in urban centers as modern Abrahamic cultural norms of shaming the human body and sexuality have spread in Bhutan's urban centers.
However phallus paintings can still be seen on the walls of houses and buildings throughout Bhutan, particularly in villages, and are credited as Kunley's creations. Traditionally symbols of an erect penis in Bhutan have been intended to drive away the evil eye and malicious gossip. The phallic symbols are generally not depicted in community temples and dzongs, which are places of worship where lamas or Buddhist monks and nuns who have adopted celibate lifestyles live. However, rural and ordinary houses continue to display them.
While the history of use of phallus symbols is generally traced to Drukpa Kunley, studies carried out at the Center of Bhutan Studies (CBS) have inferred that the phallus was an integral part of the early ethnic religion associated with Bon that existed in Bhutan before Buddhism became the state religion. In Bon, the phallus was integral to all rituals. Dasho Lam Sanga, a former principal of the Institute of Language and Culture Studies (ILCS), while acknowledging that there are no written documents regarding the subject, refers to the oral history: "But the worship of the phallus was believed to be in practice even before the arrival of Guru Rinpoche and Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal ... What we know about it is what we heard from our forefathers."
History
The often mentioned origin of the symbolic phallus is as a legacy of the popular Bhutanese saint Drukpa Kunley (1455–1529). Kunley migrated from Tibet, was trained in Ralung Monastery in Tibet, and belonged to the period of Pema Lingpa and was his disciple. He was a crazy saint who extensively travelled in Bhutan, who was fond of women and wine, and adopted blasphemous and unorthodox ways of teaching Buddhism. His sexual exploits included his hosts and promoters. He was utterly devoid of all social conventions and called himself the "Madman from Kyishodruk."
Drukpa Kunley's intention was to shock the clergy, who were uppity and prudish in their behaviour and teachings of Buddhism. However, his ways appealed to lay practitioners. It was he who propagated the legend of painting phalluses on walls and flying hanging phalluses from roof tops of houses to drive away evil spirits and subdue demonesses. He is, therefore, also called the "fertility saint", as the monastery he built, Chimi Lhakhang, is visited by not only Bhutanese women but also people from the United States and Japan.
Kunley's organ, as painted, is called the "Thunderbolt of Flaming Wisdom" as it unnerved demons and demonesses and subdued them. It is also said that he is "perhaps the only saint in the religions of the world who is almost exclusively identified with phallus and its creative power". It is for this reason that his phallus, as a symbol, is depicted in paintings on the walls of the houses, and he is shown in thangka paintings holding a "wooden stick with penis head".
The nyönpa lived in a place known as Lobesa close to Chimi Lhakhang to drive away demonesses and protect the local people. According to the legend, he used to hit the evil forces with his penis (or cohabited with them) and turn them into protective deities. Chimi Lhakhang was built in the mad saint's honour by his cousin on a hillock (this hillock was called by Kunley a "woman's breast") in a valley for the good deeds done to his people by subduing the evil forces and demonesses with his "magic thunderbolt of wisdom". It was built in 1499 with a square plan and a golden spire. It is approached from the Yowakha village, and all the houses on the way are painted with phallic symbols.